One Pebble at a Time
by Shaman Zel
Summary: um... another darkie Z/L of course


Darkness beyond Twilight,

"Darkness beyond Twilight,

Crimson beyond blood that flows,

Buried in the flow of time is where your power grows,

I pledge myself to conquer,

All the foes that stand,

Before the mighty gift,

Bestowed in my unworthy hands!!!

**Dragon Slave**!!!"

*you can put dragon.gif here*

Lina emerged from the raging inferno of death, destruction and fire unscathed. A smile grazed her face, and she flashed a victory sign. Xellos, hovering nearby, had a dubious expression on his visage. He thought ~*~ She just destroyed an entire legion of Dynast's finest mazoku!!! She'll have to go, but I need a distraction!~*~

"This new strain of Dragon Slave that I've developed is rather handy, ne Zelgadis?"

"Um, Yeah." Zel said. _^^

"Well, well, Zel-kun, I think you will find your cure in the caves ahead." Xellos chirped. 

Zelgadis looked up. "Nani?"

"**YOUR CURE!!!**" Xellos screamed ~*~ And here I thought Gourry was the dumb one!~*~.

"Gomen!"

As Lina rushed off towards the cure possibility, Xellos contacted his master.

"Zelas, beasty, Lina is getting out of hand!"

"Yes, yes, quite, kill her then." Zelas answered lazily.

"What!!! By myself?" Xellos asked incredulously.

"Of course not!!! I'll send Zelan"

"Okay, Zelas-sama."

After wandering aimlessly through the labyrinth network of caves for the better part of an hour, Lina saw a large chamber. Inside the chamber she saw a large book, open to the middle and illuminated by some unseen light. As she and Zelgadis approached it, the pages flipped by themselves, stopping on one with diagrams of chimeras on it. Clearly printed upon the pages was the cure. Lina read aloud "

1.Cast a Ra Tilt combined with a Resurrection on the chimera's body. This will extract the human spirit. The spirit, once freed, must float immediately into caster's body, thus note that an outside caster must perform the spells.

2.Destroy individual pebbles, one at a time with a combination of a Digger Volt and a Recovery. Note that the healing spells are to keep the human part of the body intact.

3.Perform the Blast Bomb spell, yet comprise it not of burst flares but of elmekia flares. This will destroy the demon part, so someone of immense magic power is needed. Note also that the human soul will survive for only 15 minutes without the body.

I'm up to it, Zel." Lina said.

"Are you sure, Lina?"

"Hey, I'm the great sorcery genius Lina Inverse, of course I'm sure!"

"Right, okay."

The first spell passed without event, and Zel floated into Lina's body.

"Um, Hello? Can you hear me?" Zel asked.

"Oh, hiya Zel, just started step two!"

Lina threw the destructive and healing lightning bolts all over his body, **slowly** eliminating one pebble at a time, per spell.

After about 3 minutes, there looked to be no progress and Lina muttered under her breath, "This is too slow."

She threw a shield around Zel's former body. Then, she sent a hail of bolts bouncing all around the sphere, eliminating pebbles at an alarming rate and allowing the sorcery genius to rest. 

The rest was short-lived. As the spell and pebbles died out, a tearing, whirling sound was heard. A large mazoku appeared in front of them, phasing completely in just as the bolts and the pebbles ended. Zelan (like you haven't guessed) hurled black orbs of dark energy at Lina, who blocked them with Fireballs.

"I promise, Zel, I will finish, no matter what."

"No, don't, don't worry about me, cure me later, save yourself!!!"

"I can't Zel, remember, the soul will die after 15 minutes."

"It doesn't matter if I die, I won't have you dead because of my stupid cure. You mean more to me than it." Zel berated himself for the slip of the tongue.

"I know you want the cure more than anything, Zel, I can't bear for you to be unhappy. I can't turn back."

With that, she began to chant Boost.

Lord of Darkness, of the Four worlds,

I call upon you,

Grant me all the power, 

All the power that you possess!

**Blast Flare**!!!

The millions of Elmekia Flares created a blizzard of light, destroying the demon part of Zel and the mazoku behind as well. Her body convulsed as a stray orb hit her leg, but she stood firm.

Zel floated back into his body, closed his eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, Lina cried out. Zelgadis Greywers, in his new/old human form, snapped his eyes open, and turned sharply towards the sound, not prepared for the sight that met his eyes.

Lina was slumped over, blood gushing from the large hole in her midsection, her once flaming ruby eyes glazed over in death. Xellos had his hand where the hole was, the dark flame illuminating his hand slowly dying.

"It would seem that you breathed too soon, you're losing your touch Zel." Xellos smiled evily, "She lov**ed** you, you know."

"Arghh!!! NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!, you bastard!!!" Zelgadis roared his hate. "Astral Vine! Ra Tilt!" (he casted on his sword.)

Although his demonic speed had left with his demon part, his anger and heartbreak furthered his charge. Zel stabbed the mazoku in the heart, then in the stomach, the neck, again and again, yelling and sobbing alternately as he did. His loss driving him berserk. Xellos died without a sound.

Zelgadis rushed over to Lina's body, casting Resurrection as he went. ~*~I don't know this spell, then how…~*~ He reached Lina, hoping, praying even to some outside force that this would work.

Lina opened her eyes slightly.

"Zel, I don't have much time," Lina said softly.

"No, don't talk like that, you'll live, I'll take you to Syphiel." Zel said urgently.

"No, Zel, it's true, nothing can change that, we all have only a little time allotted to us anyway. I just wanted to tell you, before I go, how much I love you."

"How could you love a freak? Why didn't you tell me earlier? I searched for my cure so that you might be able to love me!"

"Don't give me that whole "freak" thing, I didn't tell you because I was afraid of rejection. Jillas was right after all. Now, please, before I go, I want you to do one thing, lean close."

Even though he was frightened of what might happen, Zel complied. "What?"

"This." Lina said and leaned up to kiss him and Zel obliged willingly, kissing back passionately and drawing her into his lap, the wound in her stomach healed. When he broke the kiss to tell her, her head tilted back and her eyes closed, a final smile on her face.

Zelgadis held her for a while longer, cradling her body and crying softly deep into the night.


End file.
